


Life game

by snowynight



Category: Marvel
Genre: 5 Things, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, First Time, Games, Geek Love, Geeky, Humor, M/M, Oblivious, Pining, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Tony goes undercover to a BDSM club, climbs through an air duct, games a lot, and falls in love</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life game

Tony tried not to twitch when he was told to get into the captain's office. The captain was a decent guy, no doubt, but Tony had been far too long a guy who would waste any bodies to get the distance between him and the station, and the habit died hard. The dull wall, the sound of cop interrogating the suspects, the smell of bland coffee and dust; they all got to him. Maybe the captain felt the uneasiness too and that was why he asked for him.  Maybe it was a test.  
  
It was not enough to talk the speak and dress the like in the undercover trade. You had to think their thought to merge with the people of the circle you wanted to get into. One careless mistake could cost your life. Walking the line for long enough was like looking into the abyss. You never knew who or what would look back at you. Sometimes Tony woke out of his nightmare, trying to grab any solid evidence that he was still on the right side, while he knew there were no such things. But he was good at it, no doubt, and the truth was that he had nothing to lose, and this was the only thing he was good at.  
  
There he saw a man with an all-American handsome face, with a posture that must have come  from the military. Big, but all flexible, judging from the fluid way he moved to look at Tony. His eyes reminded Tony of a wolf, which Tony once saw on TV. His face was somehow familiar.  
  
Captain Fury introduced them.  "Stark, it's Steve Rogers, the new guy. Rogers, it's Stark, your new partner."  
  
Steve Rogers.  
  
Tony had heard of him. The cases Rogers solved were stuff of legends. If you listened to the gossip,  which Tony did, because any information was good information, Steve Rogers could probably one up John McClane. The real one here though looked a bit uncomfortable in the small office. Interesting.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Detective Stark," Rogers said, and didn't stretch out a hand, which was good, because the sheer politeness could sink Tony  
  
Tony raised an eyebrow. "How do I get the pleasure to be partnered with a legend?"  
  
"You're long overdue for a partner. Can't let you slack around," Fury said. Clearly there was no place for argument. "Show him the place around, and get out of here,"  
  
"Well, let's go."  Tony said to Rogers. He could be saddled with worse, Tony thought. He had just returned from a job, and Fury benched him, saying that Tony should save some for the new kids. He kind of bounced around in the precinct, not quite settled down, and Fury must have sensed it. Tony would just have to suck it up, bid the time, and wait long enough to pester Fury for another undercover job. Boring, but safe.

* * *

  
Several months later Tony realized how wrong he was - Steve and him were involved in a car chase that Tony only saw in an action film, had a gun pointed at him twice, and jumped from the roof of one building to the other. He strongly suspected that was why Fury paired him with Steve --- Steve was a bad luck cop. All kinds of weird stuff happened when they investigated crime together. Scarily, Tony kind of got used to this, or more precisely, he got used to Steve and couldn’t imagine going without him as a partner. Steve only loved jazz and big band music and didn’t appreciate Tony’s rock and roll CD. “Too loud,” he said. He went for a morning run and helped old ladies get across the road. But he was also a big science fiction and fantasy geek and a regular to New York comics con. As much as Steve seemed to be a time traveller from a wholesome golden past, he was also insightful about people. He was a good friend of Tony, and Tony wouldn’t hope for more because a good friendship is rare and fragile.

* * *

  
Tony thought his life went for a weird turn when he needed to go undercover with Steve as a couple to a BDSM club to investigate a murder. He expected Steve to say no, but Steve was too serious about the case to give up any possible lead. At least the club they went to wasn’t too heavy on fetish to scare off newcomers like Steve. When Steve asked for his advice on dress code, Tony suggested top hat & tails, an easy choice for a newcomer. Tony himself wouldn’t mind wearing only body paint, but Steve. Finally he decided on a tank top with fishnet front and a pair of leather pants. Steve said he looked nice, and Tony thanked him. He knew he was good looking, but he suspected Steve was thinking that he needed some comfort words.  
  
When they were admitted to the club. Tony gently led Steve away from the dungeons and play rooms, and tried to be discreetly protective about him while talking to people to collect information. It helped that it was a no sex premise. When they left Steve commented that it was an interesting place and the people were friendly. Tony was glad that Steve enjoyed himself but honestly it was frustrating to know that you could do nothing in a cheerful and sex-fumed night club. At least they got a lead.

* * *

  
After they solved the case, Tony received and accepted Steve’s invitation go to his apartment to have a celebratory dinner. When Tony arrived there, he was surprised by how comfortable it looked. There was a big wooden bookshelf  stacked with books. A lot of watercolour pictures of New York were hung on the opposite wall. There was a colourful soft carpet and the wallpaper was a lovely light blue. The furniture looked old and sturdy. Tony commented to Steve, “Your apartment’s pretty.”  
  
Steve blushed. “Thank you. I just put things in. No idea how many I got over this year. "  
  
“Where do you get the pictures from? They look beautiful.”  
  
Steve’s blush deepened. “I draw them.”

  
Steve was really a surprise, Tony thought. "I never thought that you’re an artist.”  
  
“I wanted to be one when young, but I thought the police force was more in need, so I joined it.”  
  
It was such a Steve thing to say, Tony thought.  
  
Steve changed the topic, “Now sit down and I’ll take out the spaghetti. I hope you love them.”  
  
Tony reassured him, “I love spaghetti.”    
  
The spaghetti with meatballs was good, with a generous serving of sauce. Tony and Steve talked over their dinner and he got to know more about Steve. Steve was born and raised in New York, and he couldn’t imagine a better city than that. “New York‘s just good. It’s full of vibrant life and always so lively, so resilient.” He still painted time after time, but he drew less these days. “Too busy," he explained. He was also a voracious book lover. and they bonded over their love of science fiction.  
  
When they finished their dinner, Tony took a look at Steve’s bookshelf.  There was a wide variety of books and when he took one of them to read, he could see that it has been read, with the bookmarks and side notes.  It was quite entertaining to read as Steve seemed to be arguing with the author. Tony put it back and found that there were some tabletop RPG books on the bookshelf. When he asked Steve about them, Steve said, “I played them some time before, but I haven’t a group now. Too busy to keep one.”  
  
Tony thought he loved Steve more for being such a geek. “I play RPG too. Maybe we can have a session together. I ran a duet campaign once, and it was nice”  
  
“What kind of games have you played in?”  
  
It sparked a conversation about gaming, and Tony kept his involvement in Vampire: the Masquerade LARP when younger a secret. He did mention the D&D camp he went to as a kid. Steve started his gaming with D&D, too, but he admitted that now he didn’t quite have the time for all the rules now. He was open to indie and story games though, and Tony volunteered to find a suitable game for them. They parted in a friendly atmosphere, and Tony was happy.

* * *

  
"Climbing into the the air vent? Are you sane?" Tony asked. He still couldn’t believe that they would recreate  a scene in Die Hard, though he should have expected the weirdness. They did a routine check up of a noise complaint when there was a hostage situation and they were the only people available for help, but they needed to act fast. Although if Steve was John McClane, what’d it made of him?  
  
“All right, you want the air vent. Then when we get struck, don’t say I haven’t warned you.”  
  
“Thanks, Tony,” Steve said, and they climbed into the air vent. “Now I know what TV dinner felt like,” Tony said, quoting the dialogue from the film. It could barely hold them. But they were lucky enough to pass through it, and dropped right on one of the people holding the hostages.  
  
“Your base belong to me,” Tony declared,  evading a gunshot and kicked him from under, making him fall. Then he kicked away the guy’s gun. One of them pounced on him, which Tony wrestled him over his shoulder. Soon they had things under control and called the back ups. The hostages cried and they comforted them until the other cops arrived to the scene. Then they were summoned to the headquarter downtown for paperwork, lots of paperwork. _John McClane won't need to deal with this_ , Tony thought bitterly. They were held until late at night, tired but high strung enough that they couldn’t sleep, so Tony suggested going to his apartment as it was nearby, and Steve agreed.

  
When they arrived at Tony’s apartment, Tony collapsed on the sofa and Steve sat by him, though his posture still too straight as usual. They had their cold pizza take out at the headquarter, so they weren't hungry. Tony suggested playing a game of Dance Dance Revolution to shake off their energy, half intended as a joke, but Steve said he'd love to, so Tony rolled out the dancing mat and started the game.  
  
Tony loved dancing to the loud music, and Steve soon caught up to him, igniting Tony’s competitive spirit. He shook his body, waved his hands and mixed in other dancing moves, and Steve laughed in such a relaxed manner that his heart skipped a beat. He joined in the laughing, and when they were too tired to continue,  Tony lingered for a moment.  
  
Tony suggested taking the sofa and Steve the bed, but Steve looked at his bed and said, “Your bed is big enough for two.”  
  
“Are you sure?” It'd better be a dream, Tony thought.  
  
“Of course.”  
  
Tony had imagined sleeping in the same bed with Steve a lot, but he wasn’t prepared for that.  “All right then.”  
  
They each took a shower, and went to bed. Steve soon fell into sleep, his breath steady, and Tony was hyperactive of Steve’s warm presence beside him. They were so close that if Tony wanted to, he could brush by Steve, but Tony resisted.  The thing between them was so fragile and valuable that he didn’t want to risk it. He'd treasure the moments wth Steve, put the memory in a safe deep inside his heart. If Tony wanted more, he's needed to settle. He listened to Steve’s heartbeat and gradually fell into sleep.   

* * *

  
Tony was suddenly woke out of his dream, and found that Steve was twitching uncomfortably, frowning with a painful expression. He was whispering, and Tony could catch a word like “Buck”.  He immediately knew what Steve referred to - James “Bucky” Barnes, the late partner of Steve. Tony stay still, not wanting to disturb Steve, and soon Steve relaxed, once again deep in sleep. Tony kept watching him until he also fell back to his sleep.  
  
The next morning they had breakfast together, and Tony mentioned nothing of last night, knowing that Steve wouldn’t want him to poke into his affairs, but he did keep it in mind to try to be a good friend to Steve. When they returned to the station, there were friendly jokes from others, but Tony just shrugged away and proceed to his desk. Crime didn’t wait.

* * *

  
  
Tony wondered why ordering a pizza would lead them to go undercover to meet a suspicious car dealer.  He helped Steve choose the right clothes, and explained how to go undercover to Steve. "It can be nerve-racking, because you never know what’d happen when you blow your cover.  Keep a firm sense of who you have to be in each world. Like now we have to think like a cheapsake customer who will buy a second-hand car, but don’t let it get to you at the end of the day.”

"Do you get this from your experience?"

"Yes."  
  
When they collected enough evidence to condemn the owner as a leader of  car thieves and fence, the owner panicked and jumped into his car. Tony sighed, got into his car with Steve, resigned to another crazy car chase. Steve drove like piloting a rocket, and did some daring car tricks that Tony thought would only be found in Hong Kong action movies.  Finally the owner crashed to the side of a wall and they arrested him. When they were back at Fury’s office, Fury said, “Well done, but you two seem to pull a lot of stunt recently. We’re cops, not action movies stars.”  
  
“Yes, sir,” Steve said, but Tony doubted that they could keep this promise.

* * *

 

When they left the office, Steve said, “Let’s get the pastry you like from the shop nearby.”  
“Cool,” Tony said, glad that Steve remembered his preference. When they’re leaving the station,  Tony saw a glint of white flash and he pushed Steve away from it, getting stabbed himself instead. The woman with the knife tried to run, but a colleague coming into the station stopped and overcame her. Tony recognized that the woman worked with the car dealer. He saw Steve’s worried glance and tried to joke about his wound, but Steve already had him brought into the station to apply first aid and rushed him to the hospital. Luckily the wound wasn’t deep and the knife missed the main organs.     
  
It was a long wait at the emergency room though, and Steve was clearly still worried about him, so Tony suggested, “Let’s play a game?”  
  
“You need to rest, Tony.”  
  
“But it’s boring. Steve~” Tony whined, and soon Steve sighed, “What kind of games?”  
  
“The initial game?”  
  
“What’s this?”  
  
“I think of a famous person and tell you  the initials of that person. You try to win the right to ask yes or no questions about my person to narrow down the possibilities. You win the right to ask these questions by "stumping" me. For example, if my person’s initial is JC and I can’t answer whether the person’s a country singer with a singer’s initial as JC, you get the right to ask more questions.”  
  
“I wonder where you get such a lot of games.”  
  
“Because I’m a genius.”  
  
They played several rounds of the game. Then Steve leaned towards Tony and said, “Next time, don’t jump to a knife.”  
  
Tony said, “Hey, what should I do? To look away from my partner in need?”  
  
“You can shout or something.”

“It’ll be too late.”  
  
“You may die!”  Steve looked angry.  
  
“But I don’t, so it’s a moot point anyway.”  
  
“Tony,” Steve said, “I don’t need a partner who dies on me.”  
  
Well, two could play this game. “And you'd better accept that you have a partner who won’t let you die.”  
  
“Tony,” Steve seemed to want to continue, but Tony interrupted. “It’s the deal. Better me than you, so you try your best to keep living.”  
  
“Tony...”  
  
“Steve?”  
  
“All right.”  
  
Tony counted this as a win.

* * *

“Do you think we’re actually transferred to the world of Cluedo?” Tony asked.  
  
Steve frowned and said, “Tony, we should be serious,” Tony shrugged, but he didn’t apologize for it.  
  
Every cop knew that 90 percent of crime could be solved as long as you arrived at the crime scene, with the murderer standing beside the victim with a cleaver dripping with blood. The rest were tiresome cases that needed to be solved with sweats and leg work. No matter how Tony liked whodunit, you could never figure out the motive, weapon and the method of every killer in the real world. But this was a bit funny.  
  
The crime took place in a small family gathering in a mansion. Everyone knew each other, and everyone had a motive. Judging from the crime scene, the case was probably done by an insider.  It was like a classical golden age story coming into truth, and all the people were dressed as Cluedo characters. Tony knew that it was serious, but in their line of walk sometimes you  needed a bit of gallows humour.  
  
The interrogation was fascinating, so to speak. Mrs Peach was so willing to told him that Mr. Green had a furious argument with Mr. X, as Tony nicknamed the suspects in his mind, while Mr. Green pointed an accusing finger at Colonel Yellow, who was all so willing to speculate on Professor Plum’s supposed motive for the murder. Everyone was insistent that they were totally innocent, claiming that they loved Mr. X. Following the leads, Tony and Steve discovered the murderer was actually Mrs. White, who was furious of her employer Mr. X for what she claimed to be an unfair job arrangement. They also found that Mr. Green has committed a fraud and was warranted by another state and Colonel Yellow was a smuggler. Miss Scarlett violated her probation condition for drunk driving.  Professor Plum was involved in an academic scandal and Mrs Peach wasn’t blameless either, with the suspicious death of her previous two husbands. After the case was over, Tony said to Steve, “There’re just no respectful people any more.”  
  
Steve frowned a bit and said, “Tony.” But Tony was used to that and he saw that Steve was smiling. They went to a small Japanese restaurant nearby to have sushi. Tony was still on a high of solving a case and he could see that Steve smiled more recently, which suited him a lot. They talked about modern art and Tony was surprised that Steve was indifferent to Jackson Pollack’s work. “I don’t get the appeal,” he said.  
  
“But you’re an artist, unlike me mere mortal,”  Tony teased.  
  
“Art should be readily accessible to the public. If it doesn’t have a stance, at least it should be visually appealing,” Steve said. “Why do you like it?”  
  
“It’s hard to explain. His paintings’re like a vast, breathing matrix of nets and nodes with life and energy. The only place a map like this takes you is down the royal road to the unconscious.” And this was a scary place, Tony didn’t add.    
  
“It feels like a  mindless ruin of destruction to me, honestly”  
  
Tony smiled. “You’re just too old-fashioned.”  
  
“And you’re a futurist, butI guess we just have to agree to disagree,” Steve returned his smile. “Do you want to come watch baseball with me at my home?”  
  
“Sure,” Tony said.  They watched the baseball match side by side on the sofa, and Tony could feel Steve bumping slightly to his side. He attributed it to Steve's excitement to the match on TV. Tony enjoyed more the moments with Steve than the match though.  
  
After that it was late and they played a game of  Blokus. Steve was a formidable opponent but Tony wasn’t a sloth either. They competed to the last piece and Steve won the game. Tony didn’t mind much. He felt that Steve already settled into his world and they had a comfortable rapport. Which was nice, very nice. When Tony left, he was still smiling.

* * *

  
  
Tony was resigned that they couldn’t get a break from their weird luck with crimes. In fact, there was a betting pool for it among his colleagues, which they cruelly banned him from joining. But damn it. They were just here to investigate a minor car crash and run  that the victim was fine. However, she turned out to be a royalty and it could be a diplomatic incident, so they were asked to be her bodyguard detail. She was nice enough, but it was still stressful in these forty-eight hours, in which of course the fate laughed against them by throwing troubles after troubles against them. When Tony knew that she returned safely to her country, he almost shook from his exhausion. He felt guilty when Steve asked about the planned gaming session, because despite his best wishes, the frequent intrusion of life prevented him from achieving the goal. Luckily Steve was understanding and suggested that he would run a one-off session for them tomorrow night.  Tony agreed readily to it, without even bothering to know which game he’d play.  
  
When the night came, Tony knocked on Steve’s door and found that Steve dressed extra nice today, with a crisp shirt and a pair of very tight jeans. Steve let him in and Tony noticed that Steve had prepared Tony’s favourite snack. Tony asked, “What game ‘re we playing?”  
  
“Breaking the Ice.”  
  
“I haven’t heard of it. What’s it about?”  
  
“It’s a game about love for two. I think it’ll be nice for us. What kind of romance story do you want to tell?”  
  
“Wait a minute, love for two?”  
  
.”Yes. Maybe it’s a bit forward, but we’ve been dating.”  
  
“When do we start to date?”  
  
“Quit a period ago,” Steve said. “Or maybe I misunderstand the situation, but....” He looked sad.  
  
“No, I’m just surprised. I don’t know. You’re in love with me?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I’;m … just too glad. I don’t know what to say.”  
  
“Say you too?”  
  
“Of course I do love you. Now let’s start our first formal date.”  
  
“Sure. The rule is...”


End file.
